Town Square

Dublin - Windermere Area

Original post made
by Concerned Mother, Pheasant Ridge,
on Jul 3, 2008

I have a question. I am not sure if the story given was real or not. A member of the mom's club posted a scary situation to the chatroom. A friend's colleague re-capped what happened to him on his way to their office Saturday morning. He was driving through the Windermere Resident Project that is unoccupied. As he approached a stop sign, near the new elementary school along Stoneleaf, a 4-door sedan was on the side of the road with it's hood up. Out from behind the hood came a man wearing a jacket/sweatshirt bearing a rifle and another man was running to get to the driver's door. He flew the vehicle into reverse and hit the guy running to get to his driver's door and the man with the rifle fired a few rounds. He drove to the nearest Safeway about 1/2 mile away. The police met the man at the Safeway and he and the police officers (approximately 6 police cars) drove back to the scene. The police officers found rifle shells (he thinks a 235 caliber or
greater...cop killer bullets that can penetrate a vest). He had heard from another mom that something similar had happened and that police think these may be "gang initiation" type activities.

My question is has anyone heard of such activities happening around Dublin/Pleasanton?

Posted by Janet Pelletier, editor of the Pleasanton Weekly
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Jul 3, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Hi "Concerned Mother." I spoke with Jimmy Lee, who is the spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, gave me an account of the incident, which follows below.

"This was a shooting that happened last Saturday, before 9 a.m., and the location was Stoneleaf Road and Ivy Leaf Springs Road. That's in unincorporated San Ramon. What had happened was just before 9 o'clock this victim was driving on Stoneleaf Road, heading southbound and when he was at the intersection at Ivy Leaf Springs Road, he saw a vehicle on the curb and the hood was up. As far as a vehicle description, it was either a maroon or some dark-colored four-door car. When he stopped at the stop sign there, one of the suspects came out from behind the hood, which kind of obstructed his view of this person. So he came out and raised a weapon at the victim. The second victim got out of the driver's side of the vehicle that was on the shoulder and walked to the victims' drivers side door. That's when the victim put the car in reverse and got out of there. He went to a nearby Safeway and called 911. We had numerous units at the location. We checked the area for evidence and we did find some shell casings. As far as where we're at right now, we don't have any suspect information and there are some things that we're following up that I can't go into detail about. It's being followed up by the sheriff's office."

"We know there's a lot of people in the community that are upset by this and that is understandable. It does appear to be isolated. We've never had anything happen in this neighborhood like this before. It's still being followed up on. If anybody has any information or in the future if they see anything suspicious, they should call police immediately. For the sheriff's office, call 646-2441 and you can always call 911 as well."

On a possible Pleasanton connection: "Somewhere along the way, and this incident got out through an email chain and went from person to person to person, and somewhere along the way, it stated that the police said there were a lot of carjackings going on at Stoneridge Mall, and I can't find anyone who said anything like that, No. 1, and No. 2, we did follow up with Pleasanton P.D. and they didn't have very many carjackings at all there. Frankly we aren't aware of anything similar in Pleasanton but that's not to say that we don't contact neighboring agencies to see if they have any information or if they can assist us in any way."

Lee disputed that the shell casings were 235-caliber (as is mentioned by the poster above) and said that it's too early to say whether the incident is gang-related or not.

If I may add to the whole carjacking at Stoneridge thread as someone who's worked in that mall for years. I would be astounded to hear of any significant number of such crimes there. Break-ins perhaps were seen from time to time. Certainly shoplifting, much of which occurs without anyone knowing until stock is later counted. In my time at the mall I have witnessed 6 'runners'. I also have seen 14 injuries most often due to people not wearing proper shoes and falling/slipping or teens messing around on the escalators. Two times there were fights, interestingly enough between females, lots of hair pulling and kicking. On a different note, the number of times I've seen injury car accidents by people driving to, around or leaving the mall would easily go beyond 300+. Clearly if you want to be safe around the mall, you don't drive. What am I saying here? Well, what I see when I hear these things is hysteria over unusual situations, yet we cheerfully, even happily ignore far, FAR more common ways to get injured.

Practice these until they become habits. At first they may feel like overkill, but once you make them habits, it'll feel effortless.

1) Always scan way ahead and behind, keeping track of events coming up in front of you and behind you with a mindful eye on anything unusual. We tend to dismiss things too fast. If it doesn't look or feel right use appropriate caution.

2) When coming to a stop, whenever possible give yourself a way out. For example, if there is a car stopped in front of you, ask yourself, if that car doesn't move how could I get around it? Keep enough distance for maneuvering around the vehicle.

3) Keep your doors locked. This sounds so simple but is forgotten very often with the use of remotes. This can buy you a few precious seconds.

4) When someone asks you to roll down your window for directions, etc and you feel comfortable, a couple of inches are fine, but never low enough for someone to gain entry or take control.

5) As you drive into your neighborhood scan to see who's coming in behind you. Never, ever pull in towards your house until you are comfortable with the vehicle(s) coming in behind you, even the ones at a distance. If a vehicle seems to be with you turn for turn, it's probably a coincidence but take the extra thirty seconds to drive around the block to clear the vehicle away.

6) Get used to reading license plates. Practice at stoplights. There are different kinds but get used to the patterns. For example, modern average non-commercial California plates have seven characters with the pattern of a number, then three letters, and then three numbers. Even getting partial plates can help the police.

EQUIPMENT

1) Stock vehicle windows are very easy to smash. Apply very light tint (yes I know the law, but I also know safety) or clear film on your front windows. This makes it very difficult for someone trying to smash your window and take control.

2) Program local emergency and non-emergency (for questions or to report suspicious non-threatening activity) police numbers for home and work areas into your cell phone. This can be much faster than calling 911 from a cell phone, which is routed through a CHP office (I believe it's still in Vallejo) that could have you on hold for precious minutes before being transferred to a local PD.
For Pleasanton:
Police Non-Emergency Number - (925) 931-5100
Police Emergency Number - (925) 931-5122

"The police officers found rifle shells (he thinks a 235 caliber or greater...cop killer bullets that can penetrate a vest). "

First, .235 is not a caliber (please note the decimal point) used by rifles. The closest calibers to .235 would be .224 or .243. I don't know of anyone who knows anything about firearms who would mention a .235 caliber. Calibers typically range from .177 to .50 inch or 4.5 to 12.7 mm.

Third, a "cop killer bullet" would be a bullet which is designed so that, when fired from a cartridge originally designed for use in handguns, it will penetrate body armor rated to stop bullets of that caliber, weight, and velocity. Basically, they don't exist.

Posted by Alison
a resident of Carriage Gardens
on Jul 5, 2008 at 12:55 am

To "Concerned Mother",
A great way to keep you and your children safe is to stop speeding and don't talk on the phone when you drive, handheld or not. These are the kinds of activities that happen every day in Pleasanton, and are very dangerous to mothers and children. Get a grip and get real. Worry about something likely to happen, and you are likely to be rear-ended by someone talking on a cell phone. Ask around, you'll be surprised by the number of Pleasanton residents who have had this experience.

SAN RAMON  A motorist stopped at an intersection in an unincorporated area near San Ramon last weekend was accosted by two men, one with a rifle who fired several shots as the motorist fled, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office said.

The driver, a 51-year-old Danville resident, escaped harm and drove to a nearby Safeway, where he called for help.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Jimmy Lee said the driver stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of Stoneleaf Road and Ivyleaf Springs Road about 9 a.m. Saturday. As the driver noticed a car parked nearby with its hood raised, a man holding a rifle emerged and stood in front of the motorist's car.

Moments later, a second man got out of the parked car from the driver's side and walked toward the motorist's car.

The motorist put his car in reverse and backed away from the intersection, as the man with the rifle fired several times. The driver was not hurt, and his car was not damaged.

Deputies are looking for two men in their late teens, one with medium-length light-colored hair and the other with short, dark hair and a slim build.

The teens' car was described as a maroon or dark-colored four-door sedan.

Lee asked anyone with information to contact their local police department.

Since these young men were apparently reduced to carjacking, or felony robbery with a firearm, to get what they wanted they could possibly have been "mis-guided". If that were true, from what some believe/teach the politically correct action to be taken in instances such as this would have been to surrender his vehicle since it was quite clear they may have been experiencing difficulties with their vehicle(hood up)and really needed another vehicle. He also should have given them his wallet and credit cards since they could have been hungry and would possibly need money for drugs later.

While he was surrendering his possessions he should begged them not to shoot him(this would raise their self-esteem since they would realize they held the power of life or death in their hands). If he survived this ordeal and the young men were apprehended, he could then tell them he forgave them and thanked them for not taking his life.

Now, some may believe that, or something similar, would be the correct action to take. Me, I'm with unclehomerr. It's a shame this man wasn't a "Concealed Carry"......

Posted by Reality
a resident of Pheasant Ridge
on Aug 23, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Ready or Not posted some great advice, but there is only one way to deal with these criminals. They must fear that an encounter with a "victim" could result in their death. There is nothing else that will stop them. While running away seems like a great idea (and sometimes it is), in this case, it was not as a rifle would easily penetrate vehicle metal and glass and often times have enough force to continue on to kill someone who was not the original target. This man got lucky he was not killed and his attackers lacked proper rifle training. The key in this situation is not to allow your attacker the time to attack especially when you are alerted to the threat. He should have closed the distance to the attacker and turned him into road-kill. Obviously, it is a judgement call as to what one would do in such a situation. After all, fight or flight is a personal choice. But beware, if you do choose flight, you have a greater chance of dying as well as letting your attackers know that the only thing that have to fear from such an encounter is whether or not they can get a head shot on you as you run away.

Of course, if we really want to prevent this from happening again, we need to make the criminals realize that it isn't just our lives they risk, but themselves as well. This means that citizens must be armed (whether that be concealed carry or open carry) and must be willing to use their weapons to defend themselves and those around them. There is a reason why cities that have zero to minimal gun control laws on the books like Pittsburgh have lower crime rates than cities that live in the Utopia that Gun Control was meant to create like Oakland and LA. If you don't know why, I will give you a hint-CONCEALED CARRY is SHALL ISSUE in Pittsburgh.

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